A New Raised Bed Garden-Hugelkultur, Or, Hugel-Culture

We made a Hugelkultur (think huegel-culture) bed today, one of the many preparedness things you can do on your property.  In case you don't know what this is, or means, here is a definition taken from Wikipedia:

"The practice of making raised garden beds filled with rotting wood.[21][22] It is in effect creating a Nurse log, however, covered with dirt.


Benefits of hugelkultur garden beds include water retention and warming of soil.[23][24] Buried wood becomes like a sponge (material) as it decomposes, able to capture water and store it for later use by crops planted on top of the hugelkultur bed.[25][26]

The buried decomposing wood will also give off heat, as all compost does, for several years. These effects have been used by Sepp Holzer for one to allow fruit trees to survive at otherwise inhospitable temperatures and altitudes."

We did this with sustainability in mind and yet another way to provide food, not just for ourselves, also for our animals.  The thought is that as costs continue to rise and the possible impending doom, we need to find sustainable ways to provide for oourselves.  If this interests you a bit, I encourage you to do some more research on the subject, starting on youtube by searching for a man named Sepp Holtzer and watch a few videos.  Once you have done that you will find a plethora of information on the subject.  Let me know what you find out and we can share information.